The Morning After
by Katie 4 Clorith
Summary: Sequel to my one shot Hold Me...Cloud wakes up to a surprise...or two


**_Disclaimer:_** Still don't own anything but the idea. Characters belong to SquareEnix

_**The Morning After**_

The first thing Cloud noticed when he awoke was the fact that the fire that had been going through the night had gone out. The second thing was the fact that arms were wrapped around his waist, holding him tightly.

He blinked and tried to sit up, glancing curiously behind him to see who, or what was holding him. The feeling of shock and confusion only doubled as a pink ribbon came into view, holding thick brunette hair in place.

Why was Aeris in his bed?

"Aeris?" he whispered softly, his hand reaching over his body to gently shake her shoulder. She groaned and turned her head into the pillow, mumbling something incoherent as she did so. Cloud wrinkled his nose and glanced around the room to see that everyone else was still asleep.

He sighed as he looked down at Aeris again, tilting his head to the side as he looked at her peaceful face, a small smile on her lovely, pink lips. He blushed a little at the realisation that he was thinking about how pretty she looked while sleeping.

As if sensing his eyes on her, the flower girl gave a sharp exhale of breath and rolled on to her back, opening her eyes and blinking sleepily. She glanced to the side, seeing Cloud staring at her in confusion. Now it was her turn to blush as she gave a small, innocent grin.

"Why are you in my bed?" he asked after a moment of staring at her. She reached up to move her hair from her eyes, and gave a small shrug.

"You were having a nightmare so I comforted you," she explained simply, yawning and stretching with an attitude about her as if it were perfectly normal to sneak into somebody's bed while they were sleeping and wake up next to them. Cloud on the other hand, didn't think it was normal.

"So you just climbed into my bed?" he asked with a bit of annoyance. He wasn't used to people invading his private space at all and he hated it even more when they did it without him even knowing about.

But Aeris was not one to take a earful when she didn't really deserve one. After all, how could she have asked his permission if he was tossing and turning all night, and grumbling in his sleep?

"Sorry, I was only wanting to help," she sighed before standing up and crossing to her own bed, taking her small backpack and lining all the clothes on her bed. Cloud watched her for a moment before he stood up too, nervously stepping towards her.

"Why?"

"What?" she snapped, still in a mood with him. Cloud ignored it and stepped closer, placing his hand on the wooden knob at the top of the bedpost.

"Because I wanted to comfort you," she replied honestly, her anger fading away as she folded her jacket and placed it on the end of the bed.

"Why?"

"Because I…I don't want you to get hurt."

"But why? What reason do you have to care about me?"

"Because I love you," she snapped before she could stop herself. Her cheeks went an unimaginable shade of red as her hand covered her mouth as if the action could take back her action. Cloud's eyes widened to impossible size as he blinked at her, trying to detect any hint of a joke. But he could not see any hints at all and he knew that she had meant what she had said.

"But…how...why...how?" he stammered and the Cetra could tell that he definitely was not used to girls telling him this. She smiled gently and let her bag fall from her hands, taking a seat on the bed.

"Well, how? I cannot really answer since you cannot help who you fall in love with. Why…well, there's your eyes, your smile, when you show it that is, the way you act like you don't care when you really do…there is so many things I love about you."

Cloud remained silent, staring at her as he processed her words. She was right to assume he had never heard the words 'I love you' directed at him, at least not love that was directed from outside family. He just had no interest in them when he was younger and now that he was interested, he just never had the courage to ask them out. Despite his almost arrogant impression, Cloud was incredibly shy, which Aeris knew all too well.

"I'll understand if you don't feel the same," she sighed eventually, looking directly at him. He blinked and turned his eyes back to her, only keeping eye contact for a second before looking to the floor.

"I…I do really like you," he admitted shyly, turning his head away as his cheeks turned pink. Aeris smirked slightly and stood up. She glanced around the room, having forgotten that the others were still sleeping. She turned back to Cloud and placed a hand on the back of Cloud's head, letting her hand sink into the soft strands and before he could ask what she was doing, she leaned up and kissed him on the lips. It was only a small peck, which lasted less than a second before she was walking away with a teasing smile on her lips.

"That's your official good morning wake up call," she said before she exited the room in order to find a bathroom. That left Cloud alone in the middle of the room, red faced and grinning like an idiot.

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End file.
